My Work Is Done February 18, 2009

On September 23, 2004 we held our first den meeting as Tigers. This was the second den I’ve led in our pack, as I went through the program with my older son. Last night, we had our last den meeting. As part of our closing ceremony, we had our own flag retirement ceremony. We said the Pledge of Allegiance to our den’s US flag one last time. The scout who led our first flag ceremony back in ’04 led this last one. While still at attention, two scouts folded the flag and gave it to me. It is going into my personal Scout collection and will never be used again. It has a lot of history and means the world to me.

Next to a church youth program, I strongly believe that the Scout program is the finest youth program out there. It’s not the only one, as I feel it’s good for our boys to do sports, music, etc. But I feel it’s the best program outside of the church. And the Cub Scout program is extra special to me. When done right, it does something no other youth program does – it brings boys and their parents together.

It’s been a pleasure to lead both of my sons through this wonderful program, and now it’s time for me to move on. This Saturday, at our Blue and Gold, I will be bridging to Boy Scouts along with my son. I have asked for an Assistant Scoutmaster position with the troop my son is going into, and I’ve been given the “thumbs up”. I have outlined a position of being a Webelos to Scout coordinator, which the troop doesn’t have (which one day I will blog about). If you’ve read my blog you know my passion for this subject, so I am excited about doing this as my volunteer work. So this Saturday, I will be crossing the bridge with my Webelos. I plan on having my son take off my blue epaulets at the beginning of the bridge, since we’ve been in this together since the beginning.

For now, I still plan on blogging about Cub Scout topics, because that’s near and dear to my heart. My hope is that new leaders find this blog and get information to help them with their dens. When I train, I’m not as interested in the overall picture; I like to give the leaders tools to help them at their next den meeting. Don’t get me wrong, all of the material in the Cub Scout training syllabus is important, and I teach it all. But I throw in as many tips as possible, because I remember clearly what it’s like to be a new leader, with no clue as to how to lead a den. When you have eight boys staring at you, things like fundraising, districts, Chartered Organizations, and the like become less important.

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Finally, here are the final stats for my den (sorry if this sounds like bragging – I couldn’t have done it without a great assistant leader and wonderful boys and parents).

– Out of the original 10 Tiger scouts, 6 stayed in my den and earned their Arrow of Light.

– Of the 4 Tigers that left the den, 3 moved out of the area. Only 1 left the program.

– Our den was known as the most active den. We always had a lot of awards and had great attendance on the outings and campouts.

– I had 9 Webelos at the end, and all of them received their Arrow of Light award.

– All 9 of my Webelos are bridging into Boy Scouts.

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My work is done.

In Scouting,

-Scouter Jeff <><

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Wow! Woo-hoo! Good job. My den had everyone earn the arrow of light, but I confess that I lost one of my original four due to lack of interest (he was inclined more toward video games than my program). I lost a few other guys over the years, too. It ate me up every time since I was getting them advanced and tailoring the program to their interests as well as our pack themes. So, you’ve done a great thing in my opinion. Now, I’m starting all over again and I’ve only got 3 Tigers in my den to start with, but they’ll all be getting their rank badge at the blue and gold. It’s a start!